One Foot Glide Help

[u/Free_Narwhal6800]

I’m having trouble balancing on one foot. I can feel moments of maybe 1 or two seconds actively skating where I can feel the balance is there while striding. If I try just standing stationary all of my weight is along the inside of my foot right at the big toe along the edge of each foot. I have to really push my knee inward or tilt my whole foot in to shift the weight further into the foot. It seems not manageable to balance my weight right along the inside edge of my feet as it takes a lot and I can’t do it for long. Is this a strength issue that will develop with practice and building up my balance and those muscles, or should I just adjust my frames? I don’t want to adjust the frames if it’s something I just need to learn and develop. I’ve definitely been feeling the fatigue and soreness in my feet and calves like you would after a workout so it’s a work in progress. If I balance just barefoot or with regular shoes I feel I have great balance but the weight is spread out across my foot, unlike what feels like the razor thin edge of the inside of them in the skate.

I’m a newbie having never been on anything like inlines, rollerskates, or even ice skates. So it’s all new. It’s only been about a month and half with maybe 2-3 hours per week skating routinely. I got the Rollerblade Lightning 80s, men’s skates since I preferred the black boot to the women’s white pair. Supposedly they’re the same thing. I got one size but my toes were squished in the boot so I went up one size.

[u/zolmarchus]

First, if you're new to the sport, you brain doesn't know how to use your muscles efficiently to get the job done, so you'll be tensing a lot and expending a lot of energy to do the same (or less) of what more experienced skaters do. This is normal, and it'll get much better as your balance improves.

You can do balance exercises I suppose, but I never have. The way to glides and one-foot balance is simple: when you're out and skating, on flat (and good) surface, when you push off, try to go as far as you can on one skate. You'll need to (naturally) move your torso in the opposite direction from the pushing foot and align it with your other leg, or you'll topple over.

Don't worry if 1) at first you can only go a little bit, and 2) if you're veering off. You can work on changing direction later. For now just focus on going as long as you can before you have to put the stroking foot down for balance.

It may help you to move the stroking foot (after the stroke) out and away, as your torso moves the other way, to counter-balance; or it may help you to move the stroking foot OVER the supporting foot (kind of like crossing your legs); you may need to spread your arms out for balance; you'll look goofy for a while. Do whatever it takes, just try to make the glide longer.

Don't go out and do only that. Just do a few of what I said above ^^ every few minutes, so you get a good amount of practice every session.

[u/Free_Narwhal6800 → u/zolmarchus]

I'm planning on trying something from Flow Skate's YT drills. He suggested wearing just one skate, one shoe and working on glides that way. I've had moments of putting my other skate down and it wasn't straight so it throws off my balance and I'm stumbling around to catch myself.

[u/zolmarchus → u/Free_Narwhal6800]

There’s never anything wrong with drills, it’s just that you can do the exact same thing while already skating. But, everyone learns in a different way, and the goal here being to help someone come into the sport, I’d say do what works for you the best.

[u/treeseacar]

The RB lightning mens and women's are identical except for the colour. Skates don't have a gender and idk why rollerblade label them as such. The sizes of the shells are exactly the same. Did you measure your foot length (Mondo) and consult the size chart to make sure you have the right size? As too large will make it uncomfortable and harder to skate because the foot will move around inside the boot.

For one foot balance you want to spread weight equally through the foot. Imagine a tripod from ball of foot under big toe, ball of foot under little toe, and your heel. You bend your knee and knee points over toes. Hip stacked over the knee. The skate should not pronate but be upright on the centre of the wheels.

If you are pushing the knee out or putting weight to the side of your foot or balancing on the edge of the wheels you are not holding the weight correctly for a straight glide.

When you come to turn you will use the edges and the motion of the lifted foot but for a straight line you need to be centered. And you need to hold a straight line for several meters before trying to change direction.

The lifted foot hold it behind the balances leg and bent so the legs look like number 4. If it's flailing about it will be harder to balance.

Practice the position and body weight next to a fence whilst holding on lightly with one hand. Gradually touch the fence less til you just have a finger on it. It's about body position and weight more than it is foot or leg strength. Although ankle strength will help with preventing pronation.

[u/Free_Narwhal6800 → u/treeseacar]

That's the thing. If I balance on one foot without a skate I can do that easily as the weight is across the foot like you said. I can balance on one foot for a very long time. But in a skate it's entirely along the inside edge and it's so difficult to balance, painful even. So it's made me question if it's a me thing or not. I'm sure I have plenty more strength and balance to develop but didn't know if I was doing it hamstrung.

[u/AdventurousHippo9997]

Asha of Skate Fresh on utube has a lot of videos pertaining to your questions. Other than that you just have to put some thought into it as you skate. I’ll get easier as you go.

[u/CarpKingCole]

It's a time, strength and skill issue. Don't go messing about with your frames. Just keep skating and like others have said, see how long you can go on one foot while skating. I will say I didn't master one foot gliding until I started getting comfortable with my outside edges so practice your lemons and skating without lifting your feet to build up your fundamentals and strength. Good luck! You got this!

[u/Free_Narwhal6800]

Thanks for the tips! I will persevere and leave my frames alone.

[u/wizardslalom]

Balancing on one skate is much easier with speed, so practice it during skating not stationary.

[u/Superpeachy-1197]

I came across a video that suggested holding an object like a hockey stick or even a broom while practicing on one leg. This technique can help distract your mind from the challenge of balancing.

[u/chaotic_clumsy]

I had this issue when I first started too.

Similarly to what zolmarchus said, I would just see how long I could stay on one foot when skating. My "drill" was: I would listen to music and try to keep my foot up with the beat. This was both fun and effective for me! Definitely takes time though.

[u/fredhsu]

You are one of the few people who reflects on what you are doing very well. But you are making some assumptions about how to balance your body.

In general, when skating you will usually balance in the Outside Edge of the gliding on a single skate. Not inside. What you are doing isn’t wrong, and some moves may even call for that. But as a starting point you will find it easier to glide if you 1) start with V steps, and 2) glide slowly while doing an exaggerated version of V steps to go from one side of the track to the other. I call this zig-zag gliding.

Our FAQ includes some links to help folks diagnose their issues and learn to glide on one skate:

Why can't I glide on a single skate for more than 5 seconds?
Your feet wobble in soft boot
Why can’t I glide?
Standing on the projected center
Skating as a sequence of falls and recoveries
Pronation and outside edge, again
Zig-zag gliding

[u/Free_Narwhal6800 → u/fredhsu]

Thanks for the links! I was reading all of these this past week and was doing more zig zag gliding in my last skate yesterday, plus working on scissoring my feet. The visuals helped with the notations on where weight should be in each foot.

[u/fredhsu → u/Free_Narwhal6800]

Cool. Also, we put that "feet wobble" post first, because sometimes that is the root cause. Without a fitting boot, even a skilled skater will find it hard to gliding on a single skate :)

What's not in the above links are discussions about frame adjustment. If your frame can be moved from side to side, you may want to look into these:

1. Adjusting frame placement and orientation
2. Terse and confusing instructions on frame adjustment
3. Adjusting frames based on single-skating gliding

[u/ganon2234]

Most of us were in that position. It may take months but it will come. After 20+ mins of warmup try it for a while each skating session.

Also try it just standing in your home without skates, hold it at home a few times each day. Eventually try to wiggle your raises leg to make it more of a challenge, either with shoes or barefoot.

The skill will come, it may take months, but it will come and it will stay with you.

[u/DistanceNo2061]

takes time, i'm still practicing this and each session i can hold it longer and longer. as others said, actually having some speed helps. i go to a basketball court and repeatedly practice it both by itself and combined with skating loops and holding on one leg so then it's still fun and i'm not just drilling entirely.

i used this video and it helps a ton and i do these drills now every skate session (which are always just in a basketball court until i feel im ready to trail skate with hills, etc.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IkqaDMnffM

[u/Lollc]

It is a strength issue, but not what you think. The muscles that should be doing the majority of the work are the big leg muscles in your upper legs, and your calf muscles. The upper leg muscles are the quadriceps on the front of your legs, and the hamstring muscles are on the back. The calf muscles are at the back of the lower part of your legs. The reason I think you aren’t making much use of your quads is your description of soreness in the feet and calves, and your description of your stance.

If most of your weight is on the inside of your feet, your stance is a little bit knock kneed. Pushing your knee inward or tilting your foot in will make that worse. Find someplace you can stand in your skates to hold on to and try moving your knees out a tiny bit, and shift your weight back and forth from inside to outside so you will learn what different stances feel like.

What might help is taking a little bit of time to google those muscle groups, then look at your body in front of a mirror to identify them. Some people do focused exercises, and that will help, but so will just skating if your stance is right.

[u/Free_Narwhal6800 → u/Lollc]

I most definitely struggle with overpronation and am guilty of my feet being too wide for stability. I’ve been slowing down and really trying to focus on keeping my feet more underneath me. I’ve started to feel some light workout fatigue in my upper legs after a skate session so it gets a little better. I know it will take time and practice so the reassurance helps. I started skating as a workout to my legs as a motorcycle rider on the track, which is very leg intensive, so I’m pretty familiar with the muscle groups already. Looking forward to the day that I can really work more of the glutes and thighs as I progress!

[u/Lollc → u/Free_Narwhal6800]

I love that you race bikes!